Improvement in revolving fire-arms



c. W. mmm.l

Revolver.

` Patented Sept. 1, 1863 i itrirreo @freres "iirrrervr @ri-roei oei-reines w. rit-mms, on rrrrsnune, rENNsYLvi-in'ui, essie-Non Toiiiirvriis ooorne, or simo rei-ion.

MASLIN imreov'ewienr in e Speciiicotion forming port of To all whom it may concern: f

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. HARRiS, ot' the cit-y oi"ittsbnrg, in the connty ot Alleghenyenti State of Pennsylvania, hnve inventeil e new nml nsetnl Improvement 1n Revolvng-Breech Fire-Arms 5 and Ido hereinv dechire the following to be :L full, clear, and exact lescription thereof, reference beingrhml to the annexed drawings, forming port of this specification, in which- Fignre 1 is :i sectionnl side View of nrevolving-breech hre-arm. Fig. 2 represents the parts of the lock ot the pistol willi the hammer drown partially bnolnso as to engage the heel of the trigger. Fig. 3 represents the relotive position of the ports of the look bciore the hammer reaches the point ot full-cool; at the moment when the locking-bolt is withdrawn. Fig. 41 shows the relative position of the parts of the lock when the'hammer is ntinll-coclr. 5 represents the ports ot' the lock when the 'trigger hes recovered itself zitter iiring, being the eeme as in Fig. i. Fig. 6 is n perspective representation ot' the hammer. Fig? is eperspeetire representation of the trigger with the henri or ririverettochral, showing; the ribrtiting @millier operating the locking-boit. iiig. i3 is ai side view ot' the lock-freine enti recoil-.ehiell, showing slide i'er-operetihgthe ont ofi'. Figs. ii :intl 1U nre cross-sections through one eide of the lock-freine, showin g the cnt-offoo the rroinner of operating it. Fig. il is o perspective view of the slide for operating the cnt-eti'. i2 is n representation ci' thehiimnier enti trigger, showing the effect ci the cnt otr'.

lo. the several iignres like letters of rr'erence enote similar ports. he drawings accompanying this specicetion represent e double-action revolving-breech 4pistol--that is, the pistol moy be cocked and tired eitherhy raising the immmerby hond or by peiling the trigger g' and my in vention consists in certain improvements in the lock, affecting the operation oi the homme-r, trigger, cnil locking-bolt, which holds the revolving cylinder in piece.

Lin the drawings, toi; B, the lock-frame,

A is the stock of the pisto which the several ports of the lool; are attached,.- C is the recoilarbor or baseshield, from which projects the Letters .Potent No. 39,7?

' ing breech,

EVOLVlNG NRE-ARMS.

E, dntell September l, 18GB.

pin D, on which the revolving clinnlberefl breech revolves. E the hammer; F, the trigger, and H the barrel.v

In Fig. 1 the parts are shown in their position ni rest-tirait is, when the hummer is down and the trigger not tiimvirbnclr.

The loclroperzites either by hammer or trigger-tibet is to soy, if the hammer. E be raised by lio-ntl, the toe a of the lmmnier,"'c0ming in contact with the heel b of the trigger, raises it, nini thereby tiroirs bock 'the triggerfcocking the pistol, rotating and looking the breech, and setting the trigger ready for firing'. 1t', on the other henri, the'trigger be pulled brick withont rst cooking` the hammer, the same results ore obtained. Thot rigger raises the hammer by means of the cock-parel c, and when et haii? cock thehai f-coclr pawld enters the notch n', and when ot full-cock the hammer is hohl 'in place by thepewl c, es seen-in trigger is rising, the :linger which is pivoteti to the trigger neri-r to its rear enti engages@ notch in the neel; ofthe revolving breech and causes it to rotate for enough to 'bring one of 'theV charge-chambers in range with the point ofthe hammer emi of the bnrrel H. The locking-y bolt g is pressed npwzi-rtl 'by its spring s, its henri passing through e hole in the loch-frame B, and 'pressing against revolving breech anni entering just when one or" its chambers comes in ronge with the bore ot' the barrel, time lock-ing it in positionl V. y

Jost before the revoli'ingbreech begins to rean votre by the action of the ringer c, operated by trigger F, it 'ii-i necessary to release the :positive iociringbolt from the notch ic the revolvwhich is'eecteri by meansofo vibrating porvi, li, pivotetl to the toe of the trigger, fis-seen in Fig. fi. A spiral spring, it, (shown .by dotted iines in Fig. 7,) serves to keen the vibrating pewh pressed ij'orword and. allows it to be depressed by the tail t' of the A locking-boit when Fig. el. When the the periphery of thoj zi. notch therein This vibratingv it begins to depress the locking-bolt, and before the h mmncr arrives at full-cock, as in Fig. 3, the head of the locking-bolt is drawn completely down, thus leaving the revolvingbrcech cylinder free to rotate on its axis; but just before the hammer arrives at the point of full-ceeljas at Fig. 4, the vibrating pawl slips o' the t' of the-locking-bolt g and allows it to spri back against the revolving breech,

thus againilocking it in position. When the piece is fired" and the trigger returns to its tirst position the vibrating pawl is depressed iby' the tail t' of the locking-bolt g'and recovers its place over the tail of the locking-bolt, as in Fig. 5, ready to operate it, as just described.

Another improvement consists in so con structingthe toe a of the hammer as that when in place in the lock-frame, and the parts are atrest, as in Fig. l, the toe ofthe hammer will ',not touch the tail of the trigger. The effect of 'this arrangement is that the hammer may beraised slightly by hand without affecting thc trigger or operating any of the other parts of the lock, as may be seen by Fig. 2, where the trigger and all the parts of the lock operated thereby remain as at first. tage of this-is that in vcase a piece of cap or other substance gets into the groove for the hammer in the .lock-frame, so that the hammercannot fall completely down after the trigger is pulled, the trigger is not prevented thereby from recovering its position, but will return to its place, with the pawl c, under the lower notch,.n, in the hammer, as seen in Fig. 2, so that the hammer may be raised by drawing back .the trigger and the piece ot cap removed. This depression ofthe toe of the hammer is especially important on those firearms which are exclusively triggeropcrating, because by the old arrangement the trigger cannot get into position to act on the hammer to raise it if the r`hammer does not fall completely down when the trigger is pulled. AAnother improvement is a peculiar device applicable to double-action firearms,- designed to render them solely hammer-'operating when desired.

Many persons prefer to have their tire-arms to operate so as to be cocked only by pulling back the trigger; by hand, and' itis convenlent t0 have an arrangement by which this change may be readily eiected. To accomplish this I bore a small round hole, m, (see Fig. 8,) in the lock-frame B, into which I insert a. small bolt, p, surrounded by a spiral spring, t, which is kept in place by the head ofthe bolt on one side and by an offset in the hole m atthe other, as seen in Figs. 9 and 10. By this spiral spring t the bolt p is drawn back into the wall ot' the lock-frame B, as in Fig. 10; but it may be pressed inward, so as to protrude int-o the cavity of'the', lockframe,

by means of a. beveled projection, q, (see Fig.-

,11,) on the under side of the lever r, which lever is pivoted at u to the lock-frame, so that by raising or lowering the free end ofthe le- 'ver r the spring-bolt p is protruded into the The advancavity of the lock-frame or allowed to recede. The position ot' the bolt p in the lock-frame relatively to the hammer and trigger is shown drawn-back the bolt may1 be pushed forward; but when the trigger is at rest it cannot be forced into the cavity ofthe lock-frame. This tire-arm of depriving it of lits trigger-operating feature may not be made accidentally, but must be done, it' at all, by design, and ye't the reverse operation of restoring the trigger-opof the tri ggcr by lowering the lever r, and thus withdrawing the bolt p. The efectof the introduction of the bolt p into the cavity of the to the trigger and raises the hammer) and the hammer, and prevents the cock-pawl or hand c from entering the full-cock notch n in the face of the hammer, and thus eectualiy prevents the cooking otthe pistol by the pulling ofthe trigger.

revolving-breech tire-arms, I do not claim as myfinvcntion the use of a positive lockingbolt in fire arms, susceptible of operation by the trigger, by which I mean a device for lock' in g the rotatin gcharge-cylinder, so constructed and arranged as constantly to press up against the tace ofthe charge-cylinderexcepting when necessarily withdrawn t'o allow of its rotation, as I believe that to be the invention ot' JfMaslin Cooper; but

provement to the positive locking-bolt, is

l. The use, in combination therewith, Ain revolving fire-arms, snsceptiblelof operation by the trigger, of a vibrating pawl at the'forward end of the trigger for the purpose of operating the locking .bo'lt, so that as the trigger is released afterv the pistol has' been red and iis regaining itspositiqn for repeated action the extremity ofthe vibrating pawl willrecede, passing u nder the lockingbolt, and thereby 'engaging it again, so that when the 4trigger is pulied in tiring the pistol it will immediately draw down the head of the locking bolt cnt ot its recess in the chargecylinder, and so hold it until the hammer is at half-cock, 'when the vibrating pawl releases the bolt and allows it to react against the face ot' the 'chargecylinder, rea-dyv to drop into ,the notch in the cylinder as soon as the cylinder is suiliciently turned,substantiallyashereinbeforedescribed. y l 2. The use of a cnt-off consisting of a. spring- 'bolt or other suitable device which may beop erated from outside ot' the lock-frame for holding the cock-pawl of the trigger ef from the toe of the hammer, so that it cannotA engage the cock-notch in the hammer, and thus at'will preventing the hammer being raised 'by the triggerv whenever it is desired to have 'the pistol operate exclusively as a.' hammer-cooking arm.

3,. Lowering` the in Fig. 12, being' such that-when the trigger is is so arranged in order that the-change in thel erating action may be effected in any position lock-frame is seen in Fig. 12. -The bolt slips in between the cock-pawl c (which is attached.

Having thus described my improvement in` What I do claim as my invention,`ns an im toe ofthe hammer so that Y that the trigger may :www A A:a

`when in position in ih@ iockiame before the piec 'is r tim masi the hammer will mit ha 'u Contact with the 179m @mi @f theiiiggei, wd thereby giving a sight piaf; mythe ham met and pimittug of its being raised slightiy without drawing bask the trigger, in order regain its propx positionzifteriringveuthoughthehaminershud have been prevented from faling emnpiteiy by a piece of exploded @mi m' other imsativuwrhiieix siibstzuiiiaiiy as iiereiuhibie dasribed.

Kn tetimony whereof., i, die mi@ CHARLES W; HARRELS, have hammam my bami.

@Hf-is; W.' HAREN.,

"Witnesses:

GEORGE 'wmmg Y W., BAKEWEL@ 

